[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Re: Saatvic diet: what is it?
GOPAL Ganapathiraju Sree Ramana (gopal@ecf.toronto.edu) wrote:
: Preamble
: ========
: This is *not* another thread on non-veg bashing. This
: is about the future of saatvik aahaara for those who
: believe in veg diet.
: An interesting conversation i overheard
: ========================================
: 1: how can you have vegetarian food tomorrow? the
: multi-nationals are not going to let genetic
: engineering lie unutilized. we already have
: tomatoes with alterned fish genes in them. and
: it is only a matter of time that almost all
: vegetables are going to have non-vegetarian content.
: 2: Well there will be other businessmen willing to
: run comptitive products that are *natural*
: 1: That is illusion. just like green revolution
: wiped out indegeneous varieties, the hybrid
: non-veg vegetables will wipe out *natural* vegetables.
: Then, even if some one sells the so-called *natural*
: vegetables, they will contain some trace of non-veg
: vegetables.
: 2: Well. that small amount of non-veg is acceptable.
: even today when we shop around in super markets, we
: do breath some particles of non-veg items whether
: we go near them or not. we breath on footpaths
: with ham-burger vendors etc everywhere. so what if
: some trace of non-veg is there in comptititive *natural*
: vegetables?
: 1: Let me ask you point blank then: if in future the
: genetic engineering produces walking vegetable goats
: -- goats with most of the genetic code from cauli-flower--
: will you consider it a saatvik food?
: Now, the questions
: ==================
: (1) do i need to ask any *further* questlions!
: (2) How do we define vegetarian saatvic diet?
: (3) Is there a way to deal with the problem, since
: the problem can crop up soon? (i mean, the problem of
: exhausted sources of saatvic food)
This is what I understand of saatvic foods.
1. Foods are saatvic, which do not help in the
generation of taamsik and raajsik feelings.
2. So far, people have arrived at a definitive list
of some foods, which lie in this category. My
suspicion is that this list was arrived at by
process of hit and trial.
3. Key parameters in this process of selection of
foods have been:
a) whether the food item is from a 'jada' or
'chetan' source. The former generally includes
plants (since they are supposed to not have
conciousness) and the latter are animals.
b) The aroma, and the contents. Some foods, (like
onions, garlic, spices) are supposed to arouse
our baser feelings.
c) The way food is prepared. The amount of water in
it. (I think in SBG, it says that too dry foods
are taamsik).
d) The mode of aquiring these foods. Whether you
got it from bad means or good means.
e) The process of cooking. Whether it is clean and
hygenic or not.
.... And so on and so forth.
Using these parameters, I think that it might be possible
to decide whether a particular food is saatvic or not.
--
Nachiketa Tiwari
=====================================================
750 Tall Oaks Drive 118 Patton Hall
Apt. # 3600 I Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA 24060. Blacksburg, VA 24061.
(540)-951-3979 (540)-231-4611
=====================================================
